If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I love this thing, seriously, its a tiny grass/flying type but it threatens Kyogre, that's how cool Shaymin is.

Shaymin Sky:
+Serene Grace pairs really well with Shayman's signature move, seed flare, giving an excellent chance to lower your opponents special defence by two stages
+ Stab Air Slash with 60% chance to flinch can really wear down slower opponents
+ A fantastic 127 base speed is enough to outspeed Greninja and Darkrai
+ 120 special attack is plenty to OHKO grennja. With a life orb it also OHKOs Darkrai after stealth rocks damage unless the darkrai has investment in defence, and Shaymin can sometimes OHKO bulky Kyogres.
+ 103 attack us decent, and it gets swords dance, but its too frail to set up and gets few physical moves
+ Access to several support moves, including healing wish, aromatherapy and tail wind
- Several major weaknesses to ice, rock, fire and poison
- 100/75/75 defences leave it vulnerable to most ubers
- Easily to switch into what kind of grass type doesn't get sleep powder?
- Can't really hit Lugia

This Shaymin is designed to force the likes of kyogre and offensive darkrai with seed flare. Air slash can also stall out slower pokemon if you're desperate and whittle away their health. However this shaymin can be walled easily by Dialga, Ho-Oh and other bulky pokemon and only has room for one coverage slot. Earth Power is better for Dialga while dazzling gleam hits salamence harder and HP rock does better against Ho-Oh, but none of these are OHKOs. Shaymin is worn down quickly by life orb so when its nearing the end try to use healing wish to resurrect another pokemon before its picked off by something with a priority move such as from E Kiler Arceus.

Normal Shaymin, while a big threat due to Seed Flare is not that difficult to revenge kill, even with its impressive (for a Sweeper) bulk. Mega Beedrill, Scarf Chandelure, Banded Crobat, Entei, Scarf Heracross and Scarf Darminitan, Scarf Rotom-H can all come in, eat a Seed Flare and then OHKO with one of their STAB moves. Note that none of these would like eating a Psychic, so good prediction or a free switch is a must. Paralyzing Shaymin can reduce its immediate threat, but as it will have Natural Cure, you are more likely than not going to provoke a switch. Walling Shaymin is unreliable, amazingly enough. While Seed Flare is inaccurate and has a piddling 8 PP, it makes up for it with a 40% -2 SDEF drop, which means a bout of bad luck for you can enable Shaymin to brute force past your sponge. But if you can exhaust Seed Flare or pray for good luck, Blissey can wall Shaymin all day and back without issue.

In more inclusive formats, Shaymin's job becomes harder as new threats like Volcarona, Scarf Staraptor, Scolipede, Victini, Talonflame, Mega Pinsir, (Mega) Scizor, and Weavile (needs free switch) all join the list of prospective threats that all outspeed (except Scizor -it can be that bulky), and OHKO it while Chansey is another Sponge that can stop Shaymin cold. Heatran is another suggestion, with defensive sets taking laughable damage even from the mighty specs Shaymin.

Sundering the Sky Shaymin
Sky Form Shaymin is one of the games best abusers of Serene Grace. You thought Togekiss was bad? Give it a blistering base 127 Speed, keep the broken Air Slash and give Seed Flare which thanks to Serene Graces has an 80% chance to act like a Nasty Plot. Shaymin is what you get when you put Togekiss and Serperior together. So how to take out this pixie? Well the advent of Mega Evolution has not been kind to Shaymin. Even with its high base speed, faster threats have been steadily creeping into Ubers. Mega Gangar, Deoxys, Mewtwo and Mega Blaziken (after a speed boost or 2) can all easily outspeed and OHKO it with a STAB move. Priority moves are another effective way of dealing with Sky Shaymin. Arceus, Rayquaza (Extremespeed), Mega Mawile (Sucker Punch), and Mega Lucario (Bullet Punch) can all pick off a weakened (50%) Sky Shaymin due to its poor defenses for Ubers. Paralysis is another effective option -Sky Shaymin lacks its normal forms Natural Cure, so any paralysis inflicted on it is going to stick. Finally, Sky Shaymin is very much a clean up sweeper -if it can't kill or scare its opponent, it will likely die or be maimed to the resulting counter attack (note that slower options are at risk of being flinched to death). Specially defensive Dialga (when not carrying Earth Power), Ho-oh (when not carrying HP-Rock), and Lugia can all easily eat 3+ attacks and OHKO Shaymin with the appropriate move.

Can't say I've used Shaymin competitively, but I have had one used against me. In my novice days, I was taken by surprise by an unusual Choice Scarf Shaymin. Turns out, it can revenge kill somewhat well. Said Shaymin had good synergy with Aerodactyl and Nidoqueen, so beating it wasn't easy. Moral of the story: if you're running hyper offense in UU, be prepared for a Shaymin that can outspeed most of your unboosted team. Choice Scarf is an OO, but it's not a bad one.

Shaymin-S is still a good pokemon but each gen brings new threats and problems for it which make its life harder and it fights just for a place on a team now.

60% chance to flinch with that amazing base 127 speed is great but one of shaymins biggest problems is that if it fails to get the flinch then it's easily killed on the following attack.

Mega Kanga's sucker punch and other priority such as yveltals sucker punch can easily hurt/k.o it. In addition, it is outsped by a potent threat such as mewtwo and the likes of Dialga, Lugia & Ho-oh can easily asorb anything shaymin throws at them.
It does outspeed the myriad of base 90's though as well as genesect, darkrai and the primals so whilst it may not ohko outright most things if it gets the flinch off then it can easily wear down opponents and k.o them before they even get an attack off.

Dex Entry: "Alolan Raticate gained the Dark type and used it to beat up local Alakazam and steal their mustaches. This explains both the clean-shaven Alolan Alakazam, and the luxuriousness of Alolan Raticate's 'stache"

No sets for regular Shaymin yet? Grass typing and middling speed aren't ideal but Shaymin is a great chance to get creative. Its got solid stats and a great defensive ability in natural cure. It can also switch into scalds and without worrying about burns.

This set is designed for support, tailwind helps you outspeed incoming sweepers while leech seed can weaken walls (although grass whistle helps with both, it has a high chance to miss). Giga Drain helps with longevity and has more PP than Seed Flare and leaf storm which is good for stall. The Celebi sets up tail wind or debilitates an opponent, then switches out, possibly taking advantage of rest and natural cure making shaymin easy to heal. 16 speed is enough to outspeed adamant mega swampert and jolly scrafty. Unfortunately this Shaymin does suffer spikes and toxic spikes and has poor defensive typing, so use carefully.

Oh how I wish Shaymin Sky was allowed in VGC, Air Slash would be so broken with those free flinches, the fast speed stat to abuse it, Seed Flare would open holes in a +2 Xerneas and make it easier to kill, and with a high special attack stat, it would have been such a good addition to VGC